Fate
by Poohdog
Summary: One-shot. Snape watches as Bellatrix kill the man who stole her sister from them years before and realizes he has far more in common with this muggle-born than he ever wanted to believe. Ted/Andromeda, one-sided Bellatrix/Rodolphus and Snape/Lily


**I'm not even sure this qualifies as a one-shot it's so short. And very angsty, I'll warn you. But anyway, no I don't own Harry Potter.**

Rodolphus Lestrange had been given the pleasure of killing the man; the Dark Lord had been gracious or so Snape had been told. It was just the three of them standing in there, four if you counted the victim but to Severus, the unknown man seemed half gone anyway. He was older than Severus though he looked younger than Bellatrix and Rodolphus. Then again, he was probably about the same age. Azkaban had taken years from their lives, aging them in an almost devastating way. He had thick blonde hair and Snape got the impression that he'd formerly had a big belly though it was now shrunk. For the life of him, Snape couldn't figure out what was so significant about this man that they had tired to get information from him. He never remembered seeing him around the Order.

"You ran away from them. How utterly sad. She gave up so much for you and yet you leave her at the first sign of trouble," Rodolphus sneered. Snape watched curiously. The man had looked at him once, glared sharply, and turned away, not looking in his direction again.

The man growled his eyes moving from Rodolphus to Bellatrix. Snape noticed the same thing the blonde man had noticed; Bellatrix was exceedingly anxious about this victim.

"Just kill him already," Snape stated, looking at the man. There was blood running from somewhere on his head that was covered by his hair, creating a wet red trail down the right side of his face. He didn't deserve to be taunted like this, left in pain. It was fairly obvious one of his arms was broken for it was twisted at a strange angle and Snape could only imagine what else had been done to him since he'd come.

"Do you have any idea what this mud-blood has done?" Rodolphus asked, spinning his head to look at Snape. The blonde man was looking at him too, his eyes still filled with anger but a tinge of curiosity in his face. He looked back when Severus attempted to look at him again.

"The same as any of the rest of them," Snape purred, the recited answer on the tip of his tongue, "stolen magic from-"

"He's done more than that!" Bellatrix shrieked. Snape looked up at her, expecting an explanation but someone else began to talk.

"Severus is right," Rodolphus growled. "Let's just kill him."

"Be a shame for you, wouldn't it?" the man asked, his voice hoarse, his eyes filled with malice. "Killing me I mean. Means there's no one left who can tell you what happened, how to make one of them love you."

"Shut-up!" Rodolphus yelled at him.

"She loves You-Know-Who, not you. And she's the one you wanted anyway. But I still stole the one you were supposed to have and you still don't know how."

"Shut-up!" Rodolphus yelled again. Snape began piecing thing together and found a name in his memory: Ted Tonks. Andromeda Black had been engaged to Rodolphus but had left him for Tonks. Bellatrix had been offered as consolation and Rodolphus, always being in love with her despite her indifference toward him, had quite quickly agreed to marry her.

"You're still wondering aren't you? How to make her love you. And who are you going to go to for help? You-Know-Who could care less. Lucius knows Narcissa doesn't really love him the way you want her to love you. She loves him because of their son." Rodolphus was trembling. Had Tonks caught on some truth? Why was he doing this? With Bellatrix right there, did he really think he could escape death? Severus was watching him keenly, studying the man even though he refused to look at Snape.

"My sister was a traitor and that was the only reason she loved you!" Bellatrix squealed suddenly butting aside her husband as Snape finally got a glimpse of the man's eyes. This was what Tonks wanted, Severus realized as Bellatrix pointed her wand. Tonks knew he couldn't escape death but he was a man utterly in love with his wife, who truly loved his daughter. He wanted Bellatrix to kill him because then his last sight could be of her eyes and if he tried, he could see an image of his wife and daughter one more time before he died. Snape swallowed hard because as Ted was seeing grey eyes, he was seeing green ones. The man fell to the ground, dead in an instant. Snape stared at him. In that brief second, he had forged a complete understanding with Tonks; in an instant he saw his fate in a form far more substantial than crystal balls and tea leaves.

**Sorry for the random angst. Trust me, this thing is random. Review? Please?**


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